Omakase in Pangyo with a soon-to-wed friend: eel katsudon, Kkweda

I was looking for somewhere tasty to eat with a friend who's also about to get married, found a good-looking place, and went! Here's my review of a weekday first-seating dinner reservation at Kkweda Pangyo Avenue France Branch (꿰다 판교아브뉴프랑점), a great omakase spot in Pangyo :)

Getting to Kkweda Pangyo Avenue France Branch and parking

From Pangyo Station Exit 1, walk through the Tech One building to the other side, cross the intersection diagonally, then head straight along the main road on the left. We drove, and there were plenty of parking spaces in the building with a generous amount of parking time.

• Avenue France underground parking - 3 hours
• Avenue France 2nd parking lot - 3 hours
• Hanshin Church outdoor parking lot - free exit

If you park at the church, you just drive out. If you park inside the Avenue France building, tell them your license plate number when you pay.

Exterior

This is the exterior of Kkweda Pangyo Avenue France Branch. Look for it on the main road side, not inside Avenue France!

Kkweda's hours, reservations and seating

Kkweda, a great omakase spot in Pangyo, runs three seatings: lunch (12:00-14:30), dinner 1st seating (17:00-18:45) and dinner 2nd seating (19:00-21:00). You can reserve through Naver or CatchTable. I booked the dinner 1st seating, and since there were two of us, we sat at the bar table.

Kkweda also has group tables for larger parties and a private room at the back, so with a reservation it looked great for company dinners, gatherings, or even a families' first meeting before a wedding.

The table was set with cutlery and a card showing the whole omakase course at a glance, and the food was prepared right on time.

Kkweda's early June seasonal menu: the 'Spring and Jang Course'

Kkweda changes its concept every 4-5 months, so you get a different menu each season,

When I visited in early June, they were running a seasonal course called the 'Spring and Jang Course', using spring ingredients: cold potato soup, barley salad, steamed abalone and eggplant, shrimp cannelloni, clear chicken soup, roast beef, eel katsudon and more. From July 1 it changes to a course using summer ingredients, so keep that in mind!

One alcoholic drink per person at Kkweda dinner: can you swap for non-alcoholic?

At dinner, Kkweda requires one alcoholic drink per person, and there's a wide choice of beer, highballs, wine, sake and more to pair to your taste. You can swap in a non-alcoholic option, so that's what we ordered.

On the left is the non-alcoholic mojito I ordered (12.0), and on the right is the kombucha my friend ordered (12.0). Both were fresh, zesty drinks, great for cleansing the palate between dishes. Now let me review the course in order!

Cold potato soup

The first appetizer was cold potato soup. It had finely chopped shrimp as a topping, and they explained it was finished with balsamic and dallae (wild chive) oil. It was a light, smooth soup rather than a heavy one, so it opened up the appetite nicely.

Barley salad

Next was the barley salad. It had quinoa, tomato, green olives and more, and we were told to scoop a spoonful at a time and wrap it in endive. It felt healthy and was clean and easy to eat.

Steamed abalone and eggplant

Next was the steamed abalone and eggplant dish. They recommended eating everything together in one bite: the softly steamed abalone, the soy-sauce-cured eggplant, and even the uni (sea urchin). The sauce underneath had a tang like yuja (citron), which whetted the appetite and tasted great.

Shrimp cannelloni

Next was the shrimp cannelloni. Cannelloni is a kind of pasta, and here the tube was filled with shrimp meat, served with a gochujang-based sauce and topped with pisot dressed in yuja dressing. Pisot turns out to be pea sprouts. It slipped down softly in one bite, and the sauce had a rich seafood flavor too.

Clear chicken soup

The next dish was a clear chicken soup. They explained it blends chicken stock and abalone stock, finished with grilled green onion and a chashu made from chicken thigh. I clearly remember how good the chicken chashu was, and the broth was clean-tasting too.

Roast beef

Next was the roast beef. Sous vide hanwoo (Korean beef) striploin was served with mugwort, asparagus, bangpung (coastal hogfennel) greens and whole grain mustard, and we were advised to use the sauce in small amounts since it's fairly seasoned. Four slices came out, and I tried each one with a different combination. The meat was really tender and delicious!

Is Kkweda's eel katsudon too rich?

Sitting at Kkweda's bar table, you can watch the whole preparation process, and the super crispy fried eel really raised my expectations for this anago katsudon (conger eel cutlet rice bowl). It's a Japanese-style rice bowl with sea eel tempura-style fry on rice, drizzled with a tare sauce made from eel bones and topped with shishito peppers. A rich miso soup came with it too.

Some eel bowls can be greasy and get tiring, but Kkweda's anago katsudon wasn't greasy at all. The fry and the sauce were both delicious, and I enjoyed it more than eel rice bowls I've paid for at well-known eel restaurants.

Next to the bowl came takana-zuke (Japanese pickled mustard greens), which worked nicely as a side to eat along with it.

Dessert: rare cheesecake

The last dessert was a rare cheesecake. They explained it's a cake made with yogurt and cream cheese, topped with simmered apple and finished with carrot leaves. I personally love both yogurt and cream cheese, and this sweet cake made the most of the pairing, so it was a perfect meal right to the end.

Kkweda weekday first dinner seating: my verdict

Every dish at Kkweda, the great Pangyo omakase spot, was refined and clean, and I had a really tasty meal. They explained each course as it came out and told us how to eat it best, which made the meal even more satisfying! The menu changes with the seasons, so I'll have to visit again next season :)